Starting on our new unit today, we were grouped and working on the scripts that Ms. Wong thought would be the best to make a short film with accordance to Wong Kar Wai's style.
My group comprised of Adrian, Sarah and Xiang Yi, using Adrian's script. His script was quite simple comprising of little chronological scenes but a lot of flash backs. The story depicts a man who lost love and is in a depressed stupor. Rift with internal conflict, he sits by himself in an empty apartment pealing away the petals of a white rose, which symbolize memories that he had. The theme of the script is "memory" which is illustrated through the symbolism of the rose.
One interesting aspect of this character is that his memory is fading and he doesn't remember everything. To expresses his memory loss, Adrian has chosen to make the flashbacks different from the more conventional flashback of simply making everything black and white and reducing the shutter speed, creating a blurry picture; he has decided to utilize lighting and have the light shine on the only on the things that he remembers. In addition, the location of the shots will also change when he remembers where he was. I think is a very creative was to express memory loss and that "shows" rather than "tells" and ties in very well with the Wong Kar Wai style of film.
Examples of personal engagement was that despite his good script we did a few alterations, simply to make the story more interesting and slightly less cliche. In the script one of the characters had to smoke a cigarette, despite the fact that smoking a prominent characteristic of Wong Kar Wai films, as actors we cannot smoke. Rather than be obstructed by this impediment I suggested that we substitute it with the characters blowing bubbles. This turned out to be very effective and a was is also used by Wong Kar Wai in the film My Blueberry Nights. Bubbles also stir up the sense of the innocences and nostalgia of childhood which is effective in what we are planning to achieve.
Another modification that we made was the rose. Although this was just a suggestion we planned on changing the rose to an onion. Like a rose, the onion has layers which can be pealed away one at a time, this can also symbolize the fleeting memories however, the onion and the rose project two contrasting feels. The rose is more romantic and love related, on the other hand the onion is bitter and represents resentment. Depending on the type of feel we want to create, we are contemplating on whether to use the rose or the onion. Both work well in terms of its symbolic meaning however they portray two different types of emotions.
This was a very good introduction to our unit, I gained insight into the type of film that we will be making and understand my role as actor and lighting director. I also contributed ideas and although it wasn't my script I offered good suggestions as to how we can improve it even further. Today I exercised my ability to be "knowledge" about what I know about Wong Kar Wai and apply it to my our film, being "open minded" and "caring" toward others opinion and lastly to be "reflective" upon my work and my role in the production of this film. I personally quite like the script and believe that it will be interesting and follows Wong Kar Wai's style of film very closely.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Monday, May 18, 2009
May 18, 2009
Picture Representing My Interpretation of Wong Kar Wai's Style:
Based on my knowledge, I think that this picture captures the essence of Wong Kar Wai's style of film. This picture utilizes both dim colours and bright colours, the contrasts between the darker areas of the sets of windows and the brightness of the tiles in front of the character's chest makes this shot interesting and even suggests subtle underlying messages. Wong Kar Wai has very elaborate set designs. Each shot has a balance of both dark and light colours. (this is most apparent in numerous shots in My Blueberry Nights)
Wong Kar Wai explores abstract themes. Showing the story rather than telling. Although showing and telling seem similar, Wong Kar Wai shows the story and allowing the audience to interpret the it for themselves. Despite that this is commonly done by most films, Wong Kar Wai pays special attention to the "show don't tell" rule. Building on this, I believe this image projects an underlying meaning. Despite the fact that they can fit onto one side of the bench, they choose to sit on back to back on opposite sides. Through this deliberate act of separation, this image projects the paradox of being "so close, yet so far." Despite the two characters are physically close to each other, they are emotionally and internally distant. This concept is supported through the balance of dark and light colours, which illustrate two opposing forces interacting.
Based on my knowledge, I think that this picture captures the essence of Wong Kar Wai's style of film. This picture utilizes both dim colours and bright colours, the contrasts between the darker areas of the sets of windows and the brightness of the tiles in front of the character's chest makes this shot interesting and even suggests subtle underlying messages. Wong Kar Wai has very elaborate set designs. Each shot has a balance of both dark and light colours. (this is most apparent in numerous shots in My Blueberry Nights)
Wong Kar Wai explores abstract themes. Showing the story rather than telling. Although showing and telling seem similar, Wong Kar Wai shows the story and allowing the audience to interpret the it for themselves. Despite that this is commonly done by most films, Wong Kar Wai pays special attention to the "show don't tell" rule. Building on this, I believe this image projects an underlying meaning. Despite the fact that they can fit onto one side of the bench, they choose to sit on back to back on opposite sides. Through this deliberate act of separation, this image projects the paradox of being "so close, yet so far." Despite the two characters are physically close to each other, they are emotionally and internally distant. This concept is supported through the balance of dark and light colours, which illustrate two opposing forces interacting.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
May 06, 2009
Today we watch the last portal film that we missed last class.
Blanche (Hannah, Jing Ting, Julien, Medora)
Story
This group had a very abstract and fresh approach to the theme of portals. Expressing the concept of a character trying to chase destiny was very interesting to watch and tied in very well with the use of portals. This mainly because both destiny and portals deal with the supernatural, I thought this made them very compatible. Despite this, because the story was so intricate I don't think it was expressed clearly enough to make the storyline apparent. It was only afterwards during the discussion that I realized that the person in white was symbolic of "destiny".
Camera Techniques
The camera work in this film was very entertaining to watch. In all the other films, a portal was consisted of two two shots (entrance and exits) where a character goes through one door and exits another in a different location. However, this group utilized close ups and some point of view shots to make the "exits" more interesting to watch. By using close ups and camera rotations/movements the exits seemed more bizarre and took a second to comprehend exactly where the character exited. This was much more interesting than simple stationary long shots where it is immediately obvious where the character has exited. This was the only group that decorated their portals which I thought was very interesting and very entertaining to watch.
Editing
The editing was done quite well. In terms of music, the choice of music was very well chosen and fit the footage. In the few instances where there was a match on action shot, they two shots were edited seamlessly and flowed really well. Overall, this film was very entertaining to watch, especially through their good execution of portals, however the story has to be expressed more clearly.
Having finished watching the last group, this brought our portals unit to an end. Today we started on
our new unit which investigates Wong Kar Wai's unique filming characteristics. Having watched some of his works (In the Mood for Love and My Blueberry Nights), I had a general sense of filming techniques. Before we learning specifically about Wong Kar Wai, we saw a few clips on disjoint continuity.
Especially from watching Hitchcock's works, it was very interesting to see how he draws a relationship between two seemingly contrasting shots and how they in fact justify each other. One such instance was when a man looks into the distance in one shot, then cuts to a shot of a woman and a child. This suggests that the man is a loving and warm hearted man. But change the second shot to a woman on the beach, the audience's impression on the man is completely different. The same man, but two entirely different views. I thought this was very fascinating to learn and through learning about montage editing, I though it was a huge step into interpreting Wong Kar Wai's unique style of films.
The introduction to our unit was exciting but daunting nonetheless. With little knowledge on Wong Kar Wai's special style of film, the things that we learned today were completely new to me and exercised my ability to be "knowledge" about what I know already and draw connects between what I know and what I am learning; to be "inquisitive" and good "thinkers" and displaying personal engagement. Wong Kar Wai seems very interesting simply because its so different from most of the films that I watch. This unit will be a challenge but will be an enriching and rewarding learning experience.
Blanche (Hannah, Jing Ting, Julien, Medora)
Story
This group had a very abstract and fresh approach to the theme of portals. Expressing the concept of a character trying to chase destiny was very interesting to watch and tied in very well with the use of portals. This mainly because both destiny and portals deal with the supernatural, I thought this made them very compatible. Despite this, because the story was so intricate I don't think it was expressed clearly enough to make the storyline apparent. It was only afterwards during the discussion that I realized that the person in white was symbolic of "destiny".
Camera Techniques
The camera work in this film was very entertaining to watch. In all the other films, a portal was consisted of two two shots (entrance and exits) where a character goes through one door and exits another in a different location. However, this group utilized close ups and some point of view shots to make the "exits" more interesting to watch. By using close ups and camera rotations/movements the exits seemed more bizarre and took a second to comprehend exactly where the character exited. This was much more interesting than simple stationary long shots where it is immediately obvious where the character has exited. This was the only group that decorated their portals which I thought was very interesting and very entertaining to watch.
Editing
The editing was done quite well. In terms of music, the choice of music was very well chosen and fit the footage. In the few instances where there was a match on action shot, they two shots were edited seamlessly and flowed really well. Overall, this film was very entertaining to watch, especially through their good execution of portals, however the story has to be expressed more clearly.
Having finished watching the last group, this brought our portals unit to an end. Today we started on
our new unit which investigates Wong Kar Wai's unique filming characteristics. Having watched some of his works (In the Mood for Love and My Blueberry Nights), I had a general sense of filming techniques. Before we learning specifically about Wong Kar Wai, we saw a few clips on disjoint continuity.
Especially from watching Hitchcock's works, it was very interesting to see how he draws a relationship between two seemingly contrasting shots and how they in fact justify each other. One such instance was when a man looks into the distance in one shot, then cuts to a shot of a woman and a child. This suggests that the man is a loving and warm hearted man. But change the second shot to a woman on the beach, the audience's impression on the man is completely different. The same man, but two entirely different views. I thought this was very fascinating to learn and through learning about montage editing, I though it was a huge step into interpreting Wong Kar Wai's unique style of films.
The introduction to our unit was exciting but daunting nonetheless. With little knowledge on Wong Kar Wai's special style of film, the things that we learned today were completely new to me and exercised my ability to be "knowledge" about what I know already and draw connects between what I know and what I am learning; to be "inquisitive" and good "thinkers" and displaying personal engagement. Wong Kar Wai seems very interesting simply because its so different from most of the films that I watch. This unit will be a challenge but will be an enriching and rewarding learning experience.
Monday, May 4, 2009
May 04, 2009
Screening Day.
After many delays, the day to view our films finally arrived. Having finished early, our group had many opportunities to fine adjust our films; making our portals more realistic, making finer cuts and sorting out the subtitles and credits. Overall, I am quite confident in our film.
Say Cheese (Adrian, Ashley, Bernice, Raphael, Sarah)
Story
First off the poster was very good and after watching their film, proved to be an accurate and effective insight into their story and explored themes. In terms of story, I think that the "stalker on crutches" worked quite well, however only to a certain extent. I found it very menacing and unique to have the stalker limping but I don't think it was very realistic to have a cripple chasing a person so closely and eventually catching them too, It was all too unrealistic for me, Despite this, this character managed to achieve its goal of scaring the audience nonetheless. The storyline was simple yet effective, comprised of a chase scene. The portals used were of great diversity, exploring a variety of different locations.
Camera Techniques
The camera technique used were effective but not especially diverse. With a chase scene, I would think that a variety of camera angles could be utilized. However, the angles used were simple and were reused. I think that if more angles were used it would have made the chase scenes more enjoyable and account better for the good storyline. One good camera technique, which I think was applied very effectively were the point of view shots. This was a very good type of shot to facilitate the tension stricken chase scene. I especially enjoyed the blinking when doing the point of view shots.
Editing
The cinematography of "Say Cheese" was very well done. The dim lighting was very appropriate in conveying the creepy sensation. I noticed when shooting in dim locations that they paid attention to the three points of lighting, this played out very well in their film. Also in terms of music, the music was well chosen and through using crescendos was able to build up tension effectively. I also found the balance between non-diagetic sound and diagetic was very good. Overall, this was a very enjoyable film which illustrated some film noir techniques learned from the previous unit.
____________________________________________________________________________
Babushka (Camille, Catherine, Chris, Xiang Yi)
Story
I thought the story was good because it was applicable to the portals situation however, the way the story was illustrated made it difficult to follow and made it messy. I enjoyed the idea of people chasing after something, but I found this too simple and the plot had to be better developed. In terms of portal, the portals used were also quite limited, exploring a small range of locations. With a flexible storyline I think it would be more effective if more diverse portals were used.
Camera Techniques
The techniques used were very simple. Thought this was appropriate, it made the chase scenes not as entertaining as it could have been. There was one shot that stood out which was at the start of the film where the the babushka doll fell off the table and on to a street. This match on action cut was very interesting and worked very well as a portal, however, this was the only one and the film took somewhat of a turn for the worst from that point onwards. There was also one continuous shot where the camera is following Xiang Yi, this would have worked quite well however the footsteps of the camera man could have been heard, which caused some misunderstanding as to whose footsteps those belonged to.
Editing
Continuity was huge issue in this film. Although it is a portal film, the portals were not very well developed which obstructed the plot and caused a lot of confusion. In the "cha chan teng" scene, there was also a lot of back light which silhouetted the characters. In terms of cinematography, the was a lot of red tint in a few shots. This would not be a problem if it were constant however this varied between shots and posed as a huge continuity error.
____________________________________________________________________________
Wabbit Hunt (Henry, Elliot, Joyce, Justin)
Story
The story of our film was quite intricate and we had to pay close attention as how to illustrate the story effectively and clearly. This was done through our subtitles. By having the instructions of the device displayed on the screen, it allowed the audience to clearly understand the ramifications of the device. Overall, I was very content with our storyline as well as the numerous portal that we used. One improvement that we could have done was to explore more locations with our portals. Although numerous, our portals took place in one location, because of this I don't think we manipulated the idea of portal to its fullest potential.
Camera techniques
I don't think a whole range of camera angles were used. Although there was some diversity, I think that with more variety it would have made the scenes more interesting. A few shots that I was quite happy with are the low angle shots with Daniel to emphasize his sense of control and ending shot where Justin is "small" compared with the others, symbolizing his defeat.
Editing
The editing was very well done. There were a few good match on action cuts which were very smooth. Another feature that I enjoyed was the sped up motion of the characters. Although this was slightly disorientating at times, this contributed to the comedic Charlie Chaplin characteristic we were trying to achieve. The music was the very well chosen. Not only did it contribute to the silent movie atmosphere but also worked very effectively and was compatible with our footage. The sound effects used, especially the *beep* sound that the device makes when pressed, was very useful in showing exactly where portals take place to avoid any confusion. One problem that I found quite apparent was the back lighting which was very strong in a few shots, especially in the first DT scene. To avoid this we could have either used the back light function on the camera, make the lighting dimmer on Final Cut Pro or else simply pull down the blinds. In terms of cinematography, I think that we could have done more to make the lighting more contestant between shots especially the ones with portals; this will make them more realistic and seamless. This can also be done using the three way colour corrector.
____________________________________________________________________________
High Octane (Andy, Louise, Ella, Jeff)
Story
I found the story of a schizophrenic was very applicable to our "portals" theme, this is because in many ways portal reflects the schizophrenic nature. The story was very profound and intricate, however was carried out very well. The portals explored were of a very large variety. The choice of location were great. One improvement would be to simply have more portals.
Camera Techniques
One scene that stood out was the opening sequence of shots. The way the main character was introduced, was done very effectively. Starting out with a long shot (allowing the audience a chance to see the character's surroundings) then zooming in. The ensuing shots of the character taking the pill was executed very well. Rather than filming the character's tedious motion of standing up, walking to the window sill, taking the pill out from its bottle and swallowing. There was a quick succession of shots, showing glimpses of what the character was doing, but enough to know exactly what is going on. I found this very entertaining and very effective in showing something that is boring and long in a very proficient yet interesting manner. The point of view and dolley shots were also done very well and achieved its purpose effectively.
Editing
The cinematography was very well done, the lighting and colouring were constant throughout the film. The music worked well, however did not fit the footage as well as it could have. One piece of editing which really caught my attention was the last shot which was used a split screen from two individual shots, this allowed them to have to of the same actors in the same shot together. I also enjoyed the way that they manipulated their locations and the set. One shot they had the character walk down the art corridor where there are massive windows. Utilizing the bright and excessive light, a very unique warm atmosphere was created.
Overall, I have learned a great deal from this lesson. From watching the film from my peers, not only did I see how differently they interpreted the "portals" theme but the camera techniques and editing methods that were used to make their film. From watching films by my peers who all started out at the same level and exposed to the same amount of knowledge, I learned a lot about our capacity for "risk taking" and "knowledge" as an aspiring film maker. I learned to be "open minded" to the techniques portrayed in their films, be "balanced" in terms of finding the correct relationship between showing and telling the story and lastly to be "reflective" of what I have learned from my experiences and from others.
After many delays, the day to view our films finally arrived. Having finished early, our group had many opportunities to fine adjust our films; making our portals more realistic, making finer cuts and sorting out the subtitles and credits. Overall, I am quite confident in our film.
Say Cheese (Adrian, Ashley, Bernice, Raphael, Sarah)
Story
First off the poster was very good and after watching their film, proved to be an accurate and effective insight into their story and explored themes. In terms of story, I think that the "stalker on crutches" worked quite well, however only to a certain extent. I found it very menacing and unique to have the stalker limping but I don't think it was very realistic to have a cripple chasing a person so closely and eventually catching them too, It was all too unrealistic for me, Despite this, this character managed to achieve its goal of scaring the audience nonetheless. The storyline was simple yet effective, comprised of a chase scene. The portals used were of great diversity, exploring a variety of different locations.
Camera Techniques
The camera technique used were effective but not especially diverse. With a chase scene, I would think that a variety of camera angles could be utilized. However, the angles used were simple and were reused. I think that if more angles were used it would have made the chase scenes more enjoyable and account better for the good storyline. One good camera technique, which I think was applied very effectively were the point of view shots. This was a very good type of shot to facilitate the tension stricken chase scene. I especially enjoyed the blinking when doing the point of view shots.
Editing
The cinematography of "Say Cheese" was very well done. The dim lighting was very appropriate in conveying the creepy sensation. I noticed when shooting in dim locations that they paid attention to the three points of lighting, this played out very well in their film. Also in terms of music, the music was well chosen and through using crescendos was able to build up tension effectively. I also found the balance between non-diagetic sound and diagetic was very good. Overall, this was a very enjoyable film which illustrated some film noir techniques learned from the previous unit.
____________________________________________________________________________
Babushka (Camille, Catherine, Chris, Xiang Yi)
Story
I thought the story was good because it was applicable to the portals situation however, the way the story was illustrated made it difficult to follow and made it messy. I enjoyed the idea of people chasing after something, but I found this too simple and the plot had to be better developed. In terms of portal, the portals used were also quite limited, exploring a small range of locations. With a flexible storyline I think it would be more effective if more diverse portals were used.
Camera Techniques
The techniques used were very simple. Thought this was appropriate, it made the chase scenes not as entertaining as it could have been. There was one shot that stood out which was at the start of the film where the the babushka doll fell off the table and on to a street. This match on action cut was very interesting and worked very well as a portal, however, this was the only one and the film took somewhat of a turn for the worst from that point onwards. There was also one continuous shot where the camera is following Xiang Yi, this would have worked quite well however the footsteps of the camera man could have been heard, which caused some misunderstanding as to whose footsteps those belonged to.
Editing
Continuity was huge issue in this film. Although it is a portal film, the portals were not very well developed which obstructed the plot and caused a lot of confusion. In the "cha chan teng" scene, there was also a lot of back light which silhouetted the characters. In terms of cinematography, the was a lot of red tint in a few shots. This would not be a problem if it were constant however this varied between shots and posed as a huge continuity error.
____________________________________________________________________________
Wabbit Hunt (Henry, Elliot, Joyce, Justin)
Story
The story of our film was quite intricate and we had to pay close attention as how to illustrate the story effectively and clearly. This was done through our subtitles. By having the instructions of the device displayed on the screen, it allowed the audience to clearly understand the ramifications of the device. Overall, I was very content with our storyline as well as the numerous portal that we used. One improvement that we could have done was to explore more locations with our portals. Although numerous, our portals took place in one location, because of this I don't think we manipulated the idea of portal to its fullest potential.
Camera techniques
I don't think a whole range of camera angles were used. Although there was some diversity, I think that with more variety it would have made the scenes more interesting. A few shots that I was quite happy with are the low angle shots with Daniel to emphasize his sense of control and ending shot where Justin is "small" compared with the others, symbolizing his defeat.
Editing
The editing was very well done. There were a few good match on action cuts which were very smooth. Another feature that I enjoyed was the sped up motion of the characters. Although this was slightly disorientating at times, this contributed to the comedic Charlie Chaplin characteristic we were trying to achieve. The music was the very well chosen. Not only did it contribute to the silent movie atmosphere but also worked very effectively and was compatible with our footage. The sound effects used, especially the *beep* sound that the device makes when pressed, was very useful in showing exactly where portals take place to avoid any confusion. One problem that I found quite apparent was the back lighting which was very strong in a few shots, especially in the first DT scene. To avoid this we could have either used the back light function on the camera, make the lighting dimmer on Final Cut Pro or else simply pull down the blinds. In terms of cinematography, I think that we could have done more to make the lighting more contestant between shots especially the ones with portals; this will make them more realistic and seamless. This can also be done using the three way colour corrector.
____________________________________________________________________________
High Octane (Andy, Louise, Ella, Jeff)
Story
I found the story of a schizophrenic was very applicable to our "portals" theme, this is because in many ways portal reflects the schizophrenic nature. The story was very profound and intricate, however was carried out very well. The portals explored were of a very large variety. The choice of location were great. One improvement would be to simply have more portals.
Camera Techniques
One scene that stood out was the opening sequence of shots. The way the main character was introduced, was done very effectively. Starting out with a long shot (allowing the audience a chance to see the character's surroundings) then zooming in. The ensuing shots of the character taking the pill was executed very well. Rather than filming the character's tedious motion of standing up, walking to the window sill, taking the pill out from its bottle and swallowing. There was a quick succession of shots, showing glimpses of what the character was doing, but enough to know exactly what is going on. I found this very entertaining and very effective in showing something that is boring and long in a very proficient yet interesting manner. The point of view and dolley shots were also done very well and achieved its purpose effectively.
Editing
The cinematography was very well done, the lighting and colouring were constant throughout the film. The music worked well, however did not fit the footage as well as it could have. One piece of editing which really caught my attention was the last shot which was used a split screen from two individual shots, this allowed them to have to of the same actors in the same shot together. I also enjoyed the way that they manipulated their locations and the set. One shot they had the character walk down the art corridor where there are massive windows. Utilizing the bright and excessive light, a very unique warm atmosphere was created.
Overall, I have learned a great deal from this lesson. From watching the film from my peers, not only did I see how differently they interpreted the "portals" theme but the camera techniques and editing methods that were used to make their film. From watching films by my peers who all started out at the same level and exposed to the same amount of knowledge, I learned a lot about our capacity for "risk taking" and "knowledge" as an aspiring film maker. I learned to be "open minded" to the techniques portrayed in their films, be "balanced" in terms of finding the correct relationship between showing and telling the story and lastly to be "reflective" of what I have learned from my experiences and from others.
Monday, April 27, 2009
April 27, 2009
During this single period, we spent our time importing our film from Henry's portal hard drive into the computer. 10 minutes long, our video took a long time to import; however we put this time to good use by watching our video a few times through to notice any last minute adjustments/improvements. From watching it through, we discovered a few things that could be rectified.
Joyce, who was our writer commented that the caption for the device's abilities were incorrect. Rather than "pushing the button and opening the door at the same time" it was "pushing the device first, then opening the door". Despite the fact that this caption for the instructions of the device lastly a few seconds, I think that she posed a valid point. Especially with a complicated device, it is important that we clearly establish the ramifications of the device, or else the audience will have a difficult time understanding the abilities of the device. The scenario that I most fear is that Justin would use the device and portal into another location with the audience clueless of what just happened. By clearly stating what the device is capable of doing, it will clear up any misunderstandings Justin's actions and subsequently the story of our film.
Another was to get rid of any "inside jokes". For instance, during the opening scene between Lucas (nerd) and Justin, he gets frustrated with the device and because our film is a silent movie, his annoyance is expressed as "angry gorilla sounds". Although this is humorous, at least to our group, Ms. Wong pointed out that this may not be the case of the audience. She then recommended that we change it to something which achieves the same effect (expressing what Justin is doing) and being humorous, but not necessarily using an inside joke. I think something like "&*(*#" would be slightly better, but a bit vulgar.
Overall, despite the this class being a single period and the fact that we spent most of it importing our movie, we still managed to be productive and utilize the time we had as well as possible. Today I exercised my ability to be a good "thinker" in terms of finding better ways to express our story and finding universal jokes and language to make it more suitable for the audience. Being "open minded" in terms of the techniques used and being a good "risk taker" in our choices. I'm really looking forward to the viewing session next lesson.
Joyce, who was our writer commented that the caption for the device's abilities were incorrect. Rather than "pushing the button and opening the door at the same time" it was "pushing the device first, then opening the door". Despite the fact that this caption for the instructions of the device lastly a few seconds, I think that she posed a valid point. Especially with a complicated device, it is important that we clearly establish the ramifications of the device, or else the audience will have a difficult time understanding the abilities of the device. The scenario that I most fear is that Justin would use the device and portal into another location with the audience clueless of what just happened. By clearly stating what the device is capable of doing, it will clear up any misunderstandings Justin's actions and subsequently the story of our film.
Another was to get rid of any "inside jokes". For instance, during the opening scene between Lucas (nerd) and Justin, he gets frustrated with the device and because our film is a silent movie, his annoyance is expressed as "angry gorilla sounds". Although this is humorous, at least to our group, Ms. Wong pointed out that this may not be the case of the audience. She then recommended that we change it to something which achieves the same effect (expressing what Justin is doing) and being humorous, but not necessarily using an inside joke. I think something like "&*(*#" would be slightly better, but a bit vulgar.
Overall, despite the this class being a single period and the fact that we spent most of it importing our movie, we still managed to be productive and utilize the time we had as well as possible. Today I exercised my ability to be a good "thinker" in terms of finding better ways to express our story and finding universal jokes and language to make it more suitable for the audience. Being "open minded" in terms of the techniques used and being a good "risk taker" in our choices. I'm really looking forward to the viewing session next lesson.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
April 22, 2009
Having finished all our editing we spent today's period working on the poster. We also had unanimously voted for the name "Wabbit Hunt" for our film. Personally, I though this name was a very witty title which makes references to the antics of Looney Tunes and also most of all, it is applicable to our film.
Our poster is of Justin holding is device in a seemingly very mighty pose, however contrastingly, we have edited over him making him look like an idiot. This was done by drawing on a mustache, a suit and tie and many other funny and awkward pieces of apparel. The theme of our poster is "childish antics". This is most clearly expressed through our crude editing which resembles that of a child. By only using the pen tool on Photoshop (even when colouring) it made Justin look like a bit of a joke.
The purpose of our poster is to evoke a sense of naivety and hopefully strike up memories of drawing on peoples faces as a child (which I have done profusely). This crude editing, as if done impromptuly with a colour marker, is very effective in depicting the childish concept or motif that we are trying to achieve with our poster and in our film.
Initially, we had chosen not to manually edit our poster, but to simply use the effects that are open to us in Photoshop. One such function was very appealing to us, which was called "Colouring". This function made Justin into a complete silhouette and the background a stark red. Also by adjusting the amount of redness, we also achieved a semi silhouette with the red that looked like blood. The contrast between this bloody and 'film noir like' poster and the actual comedy of our film made this poster not very applicable to our film. Although some of us argued that the stark contrast between the poster and the movie was amusing, personally I didn't think that this would be very appropriate. I think that the poster resembled a very similar communism poster of Mao!
Today was a very productive lesson in which we managed to finish our poster. Today exercised my ability to be "open minded" of the suggestions of my group members of how to improve our poster. This was also closely related to being able to "communicate" with each other, bounce ideas off each other and eventually arrive on a synthesis that we all agreed on. Making the poster also made me explore my "knowledge" on how to convey the theme of our film through a still image. This really got me thinking of how important a poster is for a movie and am beginning to notice how much time and effort it takes to complete a good one.
Our poster is of Justin holding is device in a seemingly very mighty pose, however contrastingly, we have edited over him making him look like an idiot. This was done by drawing on a mustache, a suit and tie and many other funny and awkward pieces of apparel. The theme of our poster is "childish antics". This is most clearly expressed through our crude editing which resembles that of a child. By only using the pen tool on Photoshop (even when colouring) it made Justin look like a bit of a joke.
The purpose of our poster is to evoke a sense of naivety and hopefully strike up memories of drawing on peoples faces as a child (which I have done profusely). This crude editing, as if done impromptuly with a colour marker, is very effective in depicting the childish concept or motif that we are trying to achieve with our poster and in our film.
Initially, we had chosen not to manually edit our poster, but to simply use the effects that are open to us in Photoshop. One such function was very appealing to us, which was called "Colouring". This function made Justin into a complete silhouette and the background a stark red. Also by adjusting the amount of redness, we also achieved a semi silhouette with the red that looked like blood. The contrast between this bloody and 'film noir like' poster and the actual comedy of our film made this poster not very applicable to our film. Although some of us argued that the stark contrast between the poster and the movie was amusing, personally I didn't think that this would be very appropriate. I think that the poster resembled a very similar communism poster of Mao!
Today was a very productive lesson in which we managed to finish our poster. Today exercised my ability to be "open minded" of the suggestions of my group members of how to improve our poster. This was also closely related to being able to "communicate" with each other, bounce ideas off each other and eventually arrive on a synthesis that we all agreed on. Making the poster also made me explore my "knowledge" on how to convey the theme of our film through a still image. This really got me thinking of how important a poster is for a movie and am beginning to notice how much time and effort it takes to complete a good one.
Monday, April 20, 2009
April 20, 2009
Most of the editing was completed over the holidays, so today majority of the editing was already completed. From watching a few times, we saw only that only a few adjustments had to be made.
1) Match on action cuts: there were a few which were used throughout our film and I think that some could have been more precisely time, so that the direct continuity between the moving object could be more flowing. Another reason that time is important in a match on action cut is so that the actor does not repeat an action twice in two consecutive shots. This was the case for one of our match on action cuts between 1:30-1:38, where Justin repeats the same action twice. By making the first shot shorter, it will make the scenes connect in a more flowing fashion, thus making the match on action cut more cohesive.
2) Subtitles: Deciding to base our film on the Charlie Chaplin, our film was a silent movie. Where the only sound was of the typical piano silent movie soundtrack. This also meant that there was little talking in our film and had to rely on subtitles to depict what the characters were saying. One improvement for the current subtitles in our film is to have the dialog near the character who is saying it. For instance, at 1:25 both Justin and Lucas are talking and there are two sets of subtitles, although I know exactly what is going on and who is saying what, I think for the benefit of the audience that the subtitles should be positioned close to the person who is saying them. This will show the audience who is saying what more clearly.
3) Cinematography: Lighting to be more specific. Mainly because most of our portals were in one location, when a portal occurs, the last second and the first second of two shots (where the portal occurs) have to identical in order to make the portal convincing. One such instance was during 5:14 in Daniel's house. Most of the portals worked quite well except one portal where there was a distinct change in lighting and where it was very noticeable that a cut was made. Having been editor with our last project, I suggested that we use the 3 way colour corrector or the RGB balance to make the lighting in the two shots similar to cover up the cut and to make the cut less obvious and consequently making the portal look more realistic.
Overall, only a single period we spent today's lesson looking through our film and noting down possible ways to improve it. Mostly the comments were just minor adjustments. Generally, I was very content and impressed by the outcome, Justin and Henry did a great job editing! On showing Ms. Wong, she suggested that we have more portals that lead to different locations rather than portals within one locations. By having portals that are allow the characters travel a greater distance, it will explore a vaster amount of locations and thus make our film more interesting. However, we didn't think that this would work too well, in the context of our film. In our film, only Justin can transport himself (with the device). This would make it difficult for the teacher (Henry) to chase him if he could just portal himself into a completely different location. Although I completely agree that by having more portals that take the characters into a complete different location would make our film very interesting, it would not be effectively applicable to the story of our film.
Today exercised my "knowledge" on filming to notice continiuety problems and areas in our film that could be edited better. I also had to "reflect" on my personal experience in filming and apply certain techniques (e.g. the colour correction) and insights to our film. Today also exercised my ability to be "open minded" to suggestions of others and from the teacher. We are now in the final stages of editing were we are now editing on a micro scale and making the final adjustments.
1) Match on action cuts: there were a few which were used throughout our film and I think that some could have been more precisely time, so that the direct continuity between the moving object could be more flowing. Another reason that time is important in a match on action cut is so that the actor does not repeat an action twice in two consecutive shots. This was the case for one of our match on action cuts between 1:30-1:38, where Justin repeats the same action twice. By making the first shot shorter, it will make the scenes connect in a more flowing fashion, thus making the match on action cut more cohesive.
2) Subtitles: Deciding to base our film on the Charlie Chaplin, our film was a silent movie. Where the only sound was of the typical piano silent movie soundtrack. This also meant that there was little talking in our film and had to rely on subtitles to depict what the characters were saying. One improvement for the current subtitles in our film is to have the dialog near the character who is saying it. For instance, at 1:25 both Justin and Lucas are talking and there are two sets of subtitles, although I know exactly what is going on and who is saying what, I think for the benefit of the audience that the subtitles should be positioned close to the person who is saying them. This will show the audience who is saying what more clearly.
3) Cinematography: Lighting to be more specific. Mainly because most of our portals were in one location, when a portal occurs, the last second and the first second of two shots (where the portal occurs) have to identical in order to make the portal convincing. One such instance was during 5:14 in Daniel's house. Most of the portals worked quite well except one portal where there was a distinct change in lighting and where it was very noticeable that a cut was made. Having been editor with our last project, I suggested that we use the 3 way colour corrector or the RGB balance to make the lighting in the two shots similar to cover up the cut and to make the cut less obvious and consequently making the portal look more realistic.
Overall, only a single period we spent today's lesson looking through our film and noting down possible ways to improve it. Mostly the comments were just minor adjustments. Generally, I was very content and impressed by the outcome, Justin and Henry did a great job editing! On showing Ms. Wong, she suggested that we have more portals that lead to different locations rather than portals within one locations. By having portals that are allow the characters travel a greater distance, it will explore a vaster amount of locations and thus make our film more interesting. However, we didn't think that this would work too well, in the context of our film. In our film, only Justin can transport himself (with the device). This would make it difficult for the teacher (Henry) to chase him if he could just portal himself into a completely different location. Although I completely agree that by having more portals that take the characters into a complete different location would make our film very interesting, it would not be effectively applicable to the story of our film.
Today exercised my "knowledge" on filming to notice continiuety problems and areas in our film that could be edited better. I also had to "reflect" on my personal experience in filming and apply certain techniques (e.g. the colour correction) and insights to our film. Today also exercised my ability to be "open minded" to suggestions of others and from the teacher. We are now in the final stages of editing were we are now editing on a micro scale and making the final adjustments.
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